{"id":71,"date":"2009-07-03T19:29:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-03T18:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moyracaldecott.co.uk\/2009\/07\/moyra-caldecott-on-myths-and-legends-of-africa-part-4\/"},"modified":"2024-01-16T13:37:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T13:37:24","slug":"on-myths-and-legends-of-africa-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moyracaldecott.co.uk\/wdp\/on-myths-and-legends-of-africa-4\/","title":{"rendered":"On Myths and Legends of Africa: Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

The White Bird<\/strong><\/p>\n

At a still pool in the Kalahari
\nA hunter stoops to drink.
\nThe mirror surface
\nFlashes with white light
\nAs wings spread to rise.
\nHe looks up
\nBut already the bird
\nHas flown.
\nNothing in sight
\nBut a measureless sky.
\nThe red dust of the earth,
\nThorn bushes
\nAnd the stark skeletons of rock.<\/p>\n

From that day on
\nHe travelled across the parched land
\nSeeking the bird.
\n“Wings so wide,” he would say,
\nStretching his arms.
\n“White as the full moon.”
\n“Ah yes,” was the reply.
\n“We saw it.\u00a0 It went that way.”<\/p>\n

He travelled
\nAnd searched
\nHis whole life long.
\nNever caught a glimpse again,
\nBut always heard tales told.<\/p>\n

At last in old age,
\nHaving left the flat plains of his youth
\nHe saw a mountain,
\nWhite on its summit.
\nHis bones ached with age
\nBut he climbed,
\nRested,
\nAnd climbed again.<\/p>\n

At the top he looked up
\nAnd there he saw the bird
\nIn magnificent splendour
\nHovering in an infinity of blue.
\nHe reached up, and,
\nWith his dying breath,
\nCaught one shining feather in his hand.<\/p>\n

Across the world,
\nAt another time,
\nMy son, also on a quest,
\nCaught such a feather.<\/p>\n

He was standing in the Pantheon of Rome
\nGazing up at the sky
\nSeen through a hole
\nAt the apex of the great stone dome.
\nA small white feather
\nSpiralled slowly down a shaft of sunlight.<\/p>\n

In this numinous place,
\nOnce a temple to all the gods,
\nNow dedicated to the One,
\nHe accepted it as a gift
\nFrom the Holy Spirit\u2026
\nA shining symbol
\nOf a glory that seems out of reach,
\nBut given freely, by grace,
\nFeather by feather,
\nWhen we are ready.<\/p>\n

More from this series soon\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

On Myths and Legends of Africa: Part 1
\nOn Myths and Legends of Africa: Part 2
\nOn Myths and Legends of Africa: Part 3
\nOn Myths and Legends of Africa: Part 4
\nOn Myths and Legends of Africa: Part 5
\nOn Myths and Legends of Africa: Part 6<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The White Bird At a still pool in the Kalahari A hunter stoops to drink. The mirror surface Flashes with white light As wings spread to rise. He looks up But already the bird Has flown. Nothing in sight But a measureless sky. The red dust of the earth, Thorn bushes And the stark skeletons […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,31,11],"tags":[14,15,13,12,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-71","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-articles","7":"category-myth-and-legend","8":"category-poetry","9":"tag-africa","10":"tag-essay","11":"tag-legend","12":"tag-myth","13":"tag-poetry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moyracaldecott.co.uk\/wdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moyracaldecott.co.uk\/wdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moyracaldecott.co.uk\/wdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moyracaldecott.co.uk\/wdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moyracaldecott.co.uk\/wdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/moyracaldecott.co.uk\/wdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465,"href":"https:\/\/moyracaldecott.co.uk\/wdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions\/465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moyracaldecott.co.uk\/wdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moyracaldecott.co.uk\/wdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moyracaldecott.co.uk\/wdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}